Child-Centred Play Therapy
What Is Play Therapy?
Play Therapy is a form of counselling for children that is based upon the fact that children communicate through play long before they are able to link words to their experiences through speech. Through Play Therapy, children can experiment with, process and master different skills, thoughts, feelings and experiences. They form a sense of who they are whilst learning to understand that other people can be different. Relationship skills such as being able to trust, respect, empathise, share and co-operate with people can be developed through Play Therapy. Play Therapy can positively impact upon children’s concentration, organisation and creativity.
In this video, I explain what Play Therapy is and how it can be helpful.
What Experiences Can Play Therapy Help With?
Generally speaking, Play Therapy can be effective for Primary Aged School Children (4-11 years of age), though can be appropriate for older and younger children depending on their levels of development. Play Therapy can be helpful when children have experienced:
Adoption and Fostering
Attachment and trauma related difficulties
Abuse
Anxiety
Bereavement
Bullying
Emotional and behavioural regulation difficulties
Family breakdown
Friendship difficulties
Illness
Low self-esteem
Nightmares
Physical regulation difficulties, i.e. sleeping, eating and toileting
Social withdrawal
When Is The Right Time To Start Play Therapy?
Play Therapy can give children the opportunity to explore their deepest feelings and experiences. It is not appropriate to expose them to this if they are not in a situation whereby people around them can keep their physical body and their powerful emotions safe. It is also important to note that Play Therapy can also result in children's behaviour being more intense away from the therapy sessions and can also result in their behaviour regressing to earlier developmental stages. It is crucial that the people around the child have stability in their own resources to be sensitive and support the child in what could be a very challenging time.
Examples of when it is not appropriate to start Play Therapy include:
When the child remains at risk of harm
When the child's carers lack stability in their own presentation and lack an effective support network around them
When the child's environment is in a period of transition, i.e. moving school, house, care givers.
Play Therapy Appointments
Play Therapy will only be offered once there is an assessment in place which indicates that the child would benefit from Play Therapy (see Processes and Pricing). Once agreed, Marvellous Resources Therapy Services can offer mobile Play Therapy appointments. Generally there would be an attempt to arrange these appointments at school in order to be least disruptive to the child's day. It can be a challenging for children to travel to and from therapy appointments; it can cause unnecessary stress. That said, sometimes seeing the child in school is either not possible or not appropriate. In such cases, attempts will be made to hire a room as near to the school as possible, i.e. in a children's centre or other community building.
Consistency is key in the development of a trusting therapeutic relationship and a safe, containing therapeutic space where the child can explore their difficulties. There will be practical agreements made to support this:
The appointments will be made in advance, for the same time and day of the week for each appointment
The same room and same play materials will be made to the child for each appointment
The same Play Therapist will deliver the therapy
Where possible, the same person will escort the child to and from the therapy session.
Play Therapy is agreed in blocks of eight, with the minimum being sixteen. There needs to be this set minimum as we need to allow for the fact that children need a number of sessions to build initial engagement and trust and then equally some sessions to build towards saying goodbye. It is really challenging for them to do this and work on their difficulties in a timescale of 8-10 sessions. Often children require 24-40 sessions but this is very much dependent on the individual child, their presentation and their support network.
Explaining Play Therapy Sessions To Children
Children will be given an introductory child-friendly leaflet plus appointment charts prior to starting Play Therapy. In addition, they can be shown this video, in which I explain what they can expect from their Play Therapy sessions.
Sharing Information About Play Therapy
Generally, the specific details of the therapy sessions will remain confidential to the child. Parents and professionals will not be given week by week feedback and it is important that the child is not pressured into talking about what they have been doing in the sessions. This promotes the child's feelings of trust with the therapist and the safety of the therapy space.
There is one clear reason why specific details would be disclosed to other parties immediately - safeguarding - where there is a concern about a risk to the child or others. This exception will be made clear to the child, parents and any relevant professional before Play Therapy commences.
The other occasion when information will be shared is during pre-agreed review meetings and any formal reports. On these occasions the general themes and progress of therapy will be discussed. Again, everyone will know about this beforehand, including the child.